By:
M.S.Yatnatti: Editor and Video Journalist Bengaluru: Welfare of all communities is very important for all political
parties .AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi described the dalits as reed
ki haddi'' (spine of the Congress). 36 reserved Assembly constituencies "left”
group and "right” group and both are important in politics. In Scheduled Castes
(SC) community Governments need to give equal representations in cabinet. "left”
group had not been given proper representation in the Cabinet compared with the
"right” group in recent cabinet re-jig.. "The 'left' group plays a decisive
role in Bellary, Chitradurga, Raichur, Tumkur, Gulbarga, Bijapur and Bagalkot
Parliamentary constituencies. What is wrong in giving ministerial births"left” group of Scheduled Castes (SC)
community. .. Bombay Karnataka has huge left SC ST population and BJP has given
huge representation to left SC ST persons Karnataka party cadre and central
cabinet minister and to counter balance congress has no matching numbers and
time is ripe to give additional left SC ST members of the legislatures
ministerial birth in the state cabinet in Karnataka .The brewing discontent
among the "left” group of Scheduled Castes (SC) community is likely to affect
the prospects ofthe Congressin the comingelections 2018 ."Left” groups of the SC community (comprising Madiga,
Adijambava, Arundhati, Aadikarntaka (A) and Samagara), which accused of the
Congress of appeasing "right” groups (comprising Holeya, Chalavadi and
Aadikarnataka [B]) supported the BJP in the 2008 Assembly elections as in
recent Karnataka cabinet re jig Scheduled Castes (SC) community "left” group
were not properly represented in the cabinet.Now upset by the apathy of
thecongressin extending "proper” political
representation, the "left” groups have feeling very bad getting raw deal
ingiving equal representation that
given to right groups in the "right” group, popularly known as
"Balagai”,.According to statistics made available by "left” group leaders, of
the total population of 5.20 crore (2001 Census) in Karnataka, the SC's share
is 1.20 crore. The Left group being identified as "Yedagai” forms major chunk
with a population of 60 lakh (50 per cent), the "right” group, popularly known
as "Balagai”, has a population of 40 lakh (35 per cent). The remaining people
of the community come under Lambani, Vadda and Korama communities of SC.

How is there a difference between SC left and right?
This distinction is quite interesting. Why do we differentiate the SC as a
right and left? To get to the answer, Reportedly we need to dwell into history.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) uses the term 'Adi Karnataka' while
referring to one group of the Kannadiga aboriginals who are indigenous to the
state of Karnataka. In the mid-1830s, a British traveller named Kristopher
Fellowman made considerable research on the community which is also called
'Samantha' and 'moola kannadiga kula'---once a wealthy one and belonging to the
upper caste in Kshatriya's Kula (a ruling caste status of kings) centuries ago.
Edgai---the left hand and Balgai---the right hand The Samanthas divided their
roles and responsibilities into 'Edgai' and 'Balgai' sub-groups, which
translated into left and right hands, respectively. While the Balgais comprised
monarchs and administrators, the Edgais were made responsible for work like
farming, hunting and state's security. Adi Karnataka began to wane after the
rise of Kshatriyas and arrival of British The Adi Karnataka's strength started
weakening around the middle of the 17th century, thanks to the political rise
of various Kashtriya communities. During the British rule, the foreigners
allegedly joined hands with the Patils and Gowdas to defeat the Adi Karnataka
clan and the number of its members got reduced alarmingly. In the early 19th
century, the Samanthas were stripped of property rights and even driven out of
their settlements and forced to live in caves and forests. Their women and
children were forced into slavery after the males were killed and the practice
continued well into India's dependence. Many women, who still had some wealth,
were forcibly married off in Gowda and Patil communities. Several communities
still continue with the practices of the Adi Karnatakac clan. The Adi Karnataka
clan was awarded SC status after Independence After Independence, when the
Government of India undertook a survey to identify the castes, they found the
Adi Karnataka to be an endangered community and it was awarded the Schedule
Caste status. Today from social, the left and right have become political
rivals Today, with the caste factor deepening in the functioning of the Indian
democracy, the tradition of SC Left and SC Right, which was once a social
segregation, has evolved into a political tool.

Social welfare department does not
monitor SC ST Welfare: A SC ST student
Gokul N studying in MBBS First in year in KIMS Bangalore is not getting his
fees reimbursed for academic fees and hostel fees. Total academic fees is
264240/-and total hostel fees is 3 31
500/- .The student is not able to pay fees as he and his parents are poor .
Despite In what could be termed as a major relief to students from the
Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, the Karnataka Government has decided
to reimburse in toto the fees of such students who are allotted seats in
undergraduate, postgraduate and professional courses by the Common Entrance
Test (CET) Cell. The Government, on December 8, passed this notification
modifying the rule on the reimbursement of fees and sent it to the departments
of Social Welfare, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Development and
Welfare, Higher Education, Health and Family Welfare, Technical Education and
Medical Education. The notification states that "Fees should be reimbursed
to those Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe students who are allotted seats from
the CET Cell to aided and unaided professional colleges in Karnataka as fixed
by the Government to those colleges." The notification will ensure that
the students do not have to wait for months for the Government to pay the fees
fixed by the unaided and aided colleges. This had resulted in a peculiar
situation with the students having to either pay from their own pocket or
request the department concerned to release additional grants for payment of
full fees. Such a request would take its own time to be processed at the
government level, leading to delay in the payment of fees.On their part, the
managements would insist on the full payment of the fees and ask the students
to pay up the remaining portion of the fee that was not reimbursed by the
Government. Despite In what could be termed as a major relief to students from
the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, the Karnataka Government has
decided to reimburse in toto the fees of such students who are allotted
seats in undergraduate, postgraduate and professional courses by the Common
Entrance Test (CET) Cell. But till today Government did nothing

The state government under a cabinet minister failed to
monitor expenditure in respect of social welfare department and has not spent
over Rs 6500 crore funds allotted for scheduled castes for 2014-15.The documents
obtained byRight to Information request
revealed that various government departments- until February - haven't spent
56.5 percent of Rs 11,518.99 crores allocated for the so called lower castes.
"This is not a surprise,” It happens not only in Karnataka but everywhere else
even in Central Government . This shows the importance government gives to
dalits,” . The Social and Welfare Department of Karnataka (SWD) is the nodal
agency for monitoring the funds spent by various departments of the state. The
RTI reveals that 19 out of the 33 departments haven't submitted expenditure
reports to SWD.Deputy Secretary, SWD,
said: "It is like that, we have to call them 100 times to get a report from
them. It's always the same thing.” According to a new bill passed by Karnataka
in 2014, the state government had to form a committee headed by the Chief
Minister for the planning and allocation of funds. Even though the state budget
was presented in February last year, the committee headed by the CM decided on
the projects only in October. This delay is cited as one of the main reasons
for the huge sum of money remaining unspent. "Since it is the first time, there
are some hiccups. This year there won't be so many problems. The fact that
funds can be transferred to the year following the immediate year would have
made them (departments) lazy,” Arun added.Some departments which have spent a
meager part of the funds allotted to them are: Youth Services - 5.21%, Public
Works - 7.07%, Labor - 16.32% and Horticulture - 17.63%. Many schemes which
come under these departments like Child Labour Rehabilitation, Insurance
schemes, training programmes for SC/ST, Assistance to state poultry farmers etc
will suffer due to the under spending. There were already allegations by
various organizations that the government had siphoned about 50% of the funds
in the 14-15 budget to general projects like building courts etc.

The bigger question political experts ask is whether
will this election cabinet help the Congress retain power in the only big state
it controls at the moment. Very tough. It faces a rejuvenated BJP which under
the leadership of BS Yeddyurappa is charged up to make the gateway to south
India its own in 2018.Reportedly Siddaramaiah swears by the caste matrix of
Ahinda - the Kannada acronym for Muslims, backward classes and Dalits - because
it worked for him in 2013. Dalits are 23 per cent of Karnataka's population
while Muslims constitute 12 per cent.But the strategy would need to be tweaked
because it has alienated the other majority communities from the Congress. This
time, the Lingayat vote bank, that traditionally backs the BJP, is unlikely to
be split as there is no KJP (the party Yeddyurappa floated).While the strategy
of leveraging the caste factor in Karnataka is at the heart of the reshuffle,
other factors like poor performance of some ministers, regional balance, the
power equations of some aspirants with the party high command, the need to
infuse more youthful energy and the need to stop criticism from respected
leaders within the party have all played a significant role in the re-jig. AICC
vice-president Rahul Gandhi described the dalits as reed ki haddi'' (spine of
the Congress) .